@article{Dacrema2019,
title = {Are We Really Making Much Progress? A Worrying Analysis of Recent Neural Recommendation Approaches},
author = {Maurizio Ferrari Dacrema and Paolo Cremonesi and Dietmar Jannach},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.06902
https://dblp.org/rec/bib/journals/corr/abs-1907-06902},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-07-23},
urldate = {2019-08-08},
journal = {Proceedings of the 13th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys 2019)},
abstract = {Deep learning techniques have become the method of choice for researchers working on algorithmic aspects of recommender systems. With the strongly increased interest in machine learning in general, it has, as a result, become difficult to keep track of what represents the state-of-the-art at the moment, e.g., for top-n recommendation tasks. At the same time, several recent publications point out problems in today's research practice in applied machine learning, e.g., in terms of the reproducibility of the results or the choice of the baselines when proposing new models. In this work, we report the results of a systematic analysis of algorithmic proposals for top-n recommendation tasks. Specifically, we considered 18 algorithms that were presented at top-level research conferences in the last years. Only 7 of them could be reproduced with reasonable effort. For these methods, it however turned out that 6 of them can often be outperformed with comparably simple heuristic methods, e.g., based on nearest-neighbor or graph-based techniques. The remaining one clearly outperformed the baselines but did not consistently outperform a well-tuned non-neural linear ranking method. Overall, our work sheds light on a number of potential problems in today's machine learning scholarship and calls for improved scientific practices in this area. },
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

Deep learning techniques have become the method of choice for researchers working on algorithmic aspects of recommender systems. With the strongly increased interest in machine learning in general, it has, as a result, become difficult to keep track of what represents the state-of-the-art at the moment, e.g., for top-n recommendation tasks. At the same time, several recent publications point out problems in today's research practice in applied machine learning, e.g., in terms of the reproducibility of the results or the choice of the baselines when proposing new models. In this work, we report the results of a systematic analysis of algorithmic proposals for top-n recommendation tasks. Specifically, we considered 18 algorithms that were presented at top-level research conferences in the last years. Only 7 of them could be reproduced with reasonable effort. For these methods, it however turned out that 6 of them can often be outperformed with comparably simple heuristic methods, e.g., based on nearest-neighbor or graph-based techniques. The remaining one clearly outperformed the baselines but did not consistently outperform a well-tuned non-neural linear ranking method. Overall, our work sheds light on a number of potential problems in today's machine learning scholarship and calls for improved scientific practices in this area.

We present LumièreNet, a simple, modular, and completely deep-learning based architecture that synthesizes, high quality, full-pose headshot lecture videos from instructor's new audio narration of any length. Unlike prior works, LumièreNet is entirely composed of trainable neural network modules to learn mapping functions from the audio to video through (intermediate) estimated pose-based compact and abstract latent codes. Our video demos are available at [22] and [23].

@inproceedings{Leitner2019,
title = {Experiences with a MOOC-platform – Who are our learners and what do they think about MOOCs?},
author = {Philipp Leitner and Martin Ebner},
url = {http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2356/
http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2356/experience_short14.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333446168_Experiences_with_a_MOOC-platform_-Who_are_our_learners_and_what_do_they_think_about_MOOCs},
issn = {1613-0073},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-20},
urldate = {2019-08-08},
booktitle = {Proceedings of Work in Progress Papers of the Research, Experience and Business Tracks at EMOOCs 2019},
volume = {2356},
abstract = {iMooX, the first and currently only Austrian MOOC platform, has been hosting xMOOCs since 2014. Directly after the start a survey of the first three MOOCs was conducted and published in 2015. In the meantime, the MOOC platform contains more than 45 courses and serves many thousands of learners. Therefore, we are investigating, if there is a change towards the learners themselves, their expectations and experiences regarding learning with MOOCs as well as with the platform. Using the exact same survey as years before it can be shown that there are little changes in the right directions or maybe it can be concluded that learning with MOOCs became more common to a broader public, at least in the academic world.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}

iMooX, the first and currently only Austrian MOOC platform, has been hosting xMOOCs since 2014. Directly after the start a survey of the first three MOOCs was conducted and published in 2015. In the meantime, the MOOC platform contains more than 45 courses and serves many thousands of learners. Therefore, we are investigating, if there is a change towards the learners themselves, their expectations and experiences regarding learning with MOOCs as well as with the platform. Using the exact same survey as years before it can be shown that there are little changes in the right directions or maybe it can be concluded that learning with MOOCs became more common to a broader public, at least in the academic world.

@inproceedings{Neuböck2019,
title = {What do we know about typical MOOC participants? First insights from the field},
author = {Kristina Neuböck and Michael Kopp and Martin Ebner},
url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276473928_What_do_we_know_about_typical_MOOC_participants_First_insights_from_the_field},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-20},
urldate = {2019-08-08},
booktitle = {Proceedings of eMOOCs 2015 conference},
pages = {183–190},
address = {Mons},
abstract = {assive Open Online Courses became a worldwide phenomenon. Especially in Central Europe it is a subject of debates whether universities should invest more money or not. This research study likes to give first answers about typical MOOC participants based on data from different field studies of the Austrian MOOC-platform iMooX.
It can be pointed out that the typical learner is a student or an adult learner, strongly interested in the course topic or just interested in learning with media and finally with self- contained learning competencies. The research work concludes that MOOCs broaden the educational field for universities and are a possibility to educate the public in a long run.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}

assive Open Online Courses became a worldwide phenomenon. Especially in Central Europe it is a subject of debates whether universities should invest more money or not. This research study likes to give first answers about typical MOOC participants based on data from different field studies of the Austrian MOOC-platform iMooX.
It can be pointed out that the typical learner is a student or an adult learner, strongly interested in the course topic or just interested in learning with media and finally with self- contained learning competencies. The research work concludes that MOOCs broaden the educational field for universities and are a possibility to educate the public in a long run.

@article{Perini2019,
title = {Using Hypervideo to support undergraduate students’ reflection on work practices: a qualitative study},
author = {Marco Perini and Alberto A.P. Cattaneo and Guiseppe Tacconi},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-019-0156-z},
doi = {10.1186/s41239-019-0156-z},
issn = {2365-9440},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-07-19},
urldate = {2019-08-08},
journal = {International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education},
volume = {16},
number = {1},
pages = {29},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
abstract = {According to several exploratory studies, the HyperVideo seems to be particularly useful in highlighting the existing connections between the school-based and the work-based contexts, between authentic work situations and theoretical underpinnings. This tool and its features, in particular, the video annotation, seems to constitute an instrument which facilitates the students' reflection on work-practices. Even though several researchers have already studied the efficacy of HyperVideo, studies concerning the qualitative differences between a reflection process activated with or without its use are still missing. Therefore, the present contribution is focused on the reflective processes activated by two groups of students engaged in a higher education course while they carry out a reflective activity on work practices using the HyperVideo or not. The aim is to investigate wether the HyperVideo can be useful for students to foster the connection between theoretical concepts and work practices. Through multi-step qualitative analysis which combined Thematic Qualitative Text Analysis and Grounded Theory, a sample of reflective reports drafted by a group of students who employed HiperVideo to make a video-interview on a work-practice and to reflect on it (Group A) was compared with a sample of reflective reports drafted by a group who did not use it to complete the same task (Group B).},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

According to several exploratory studies, the HyperVideo seems to be particularly useful in highlighting the existing connections between the school-based and the work-based contexts, between authentic work situations and theoretical underpinnings. This tool and its features, in particular, the video annotation, seems to constitute an instrument which facilitates the students' reflection on work-practices. Even though several researchers have already studied the efficacy of HyperVideo, studies concerning the qualitative differences between a reflection process activated with or without its use are still missing. Therefore, the present contribution is focused on the reflective processes activated by two groups of students engaged in a higher education course while they carry out a reflective activity on work practices using the HyperVideo or not. The aim is to investigate wether the HyperVideo can be useful for students to foster the connection between theoretical concepts and work practices. Through multi-step qualitative analysis which combined Thematic Qualitative Text Analysis and Grounded Theory, a sample of reflective reports drafted by a group of students who employed HiperVideo to make a video-interview on a work-practice and to reflect on it (Group A) was compared with a sample of reflective reports drafted by a group who did not use it to complete the same task (Group B).